I had never tied together the woman who poured perfume on Jesus to prepare his body for burial and the very next story, the last supper.
In Mark 14, Jesus is in Bethany at Simon the Leper’s house when a woman comes in with a very expensive jar of perfume (worth a year’s wages – how much do you make in a year?). in 14:3 she does two things: she breaks the jar. She pours the perfume.
In the next story Jesus breaks the bread (14:22) and then taking the cup said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” Broken and poured.
She didn’t put a cork in it. She broke the bottle. It all had to be poured out.
Too often we want to give Jesus a little. We want to uncork it, pour some out, and cork up the rest for later. She broke the bottle and poured it all out. There was no going back!
Jesus went to the cross, there was no going back. Broken and poured. That was Jesus.
This must be us as well. You must be broken and poured. It is in the breaking and the pouring that you will truly gain your life.
